Conservative Yeshiva Holds Day of Learning in DC

• Who were the jealous husband and wild wives in the Talmud, and exactly what did they do?
• How did the sages of the Talmud think about capital punishment?
• Are there limits to rabbinic authority?
• May we pray for a loved one to die?

More than 70 people gathered in Washington's Tifereth Israel Congregation last month to ponder these and other questions with the Conservative Yeshiva late last month. The Yeshiva, part of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism's Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center, sponsored a daylong Day of Learning, its first outside New York. Teachers included Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Joel Roth and the yeshiva's director, Rabbi Daniel Goldfarb. Rabbi Ethan Seidel of Tifereth Israel, Rabbi Shawn Simon Hazani of Philadelphia, Rabbi Jonah Layman of Silver Spring, Maryland, and Rabbi Rebecca Wand Ben-Gideon and Rabbi Phil Pohl, both from metropolitan Washington, also taught.